Search Results for: why we memorize

Why we memorize…………

September 25, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 6 Comments

The following excerpt is taken from a paper by Andrew Pudewa called “Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization”. This part of our homeschool day where we memorize poems, scripture, catechisms, etc. is one of my favorites. It simply amazes me how much kids excel at memory work. I’ve included a video of my girls reciting “The Creation” and I hope it inspires you and your children to commit something beautiful to memory.

“Young children will naturally memorize language patterns from their cultural environment. If teachers and parents don’t provide high quality models, kids will automatically internalize and memorize random stuff from their environment–mainly TV advertisements and songs on the radio, most of which we would not find to be ‘reliably correct and sophisticated’. A child’s instinctive desire to memorize is intrinsic to language aquisition, yet for the most part we ignore it, or allow it to happen so haphazardly that we miss out on one of the greatest opportunities to build sophisticated language patterns. Poetry has long served a critical role in the transmission of culture, as it tends to convey the “rhyme and reason” of life in a concentrated and memorable form. But is we don’t provide the content and opportunity for organized memorization, kids will let popular culture be their teacher. In other words, if we don’t provide them with Bellox, Stevenson, and Rossetti, they’ll memorize McDonald’s commercials and Snoop Doggy Dog rap lines. Memorization is not only natural for young children, it is culturally powerful and educationally essential.”

Find more videos like this on The Wittenberg Trail

Life is Weird & Also Wonderful

July 14, 2015 by Edie Wadsworth 32 Comments

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It’s been the weirdest stretch of months in my whole entire life, unless you count the year or so I spent going to the Armory with Brother Todd getting autographs of all my favorite pro wrestlers. I’m not sure if mama made him take me or if I just begged enough to appeal to his softer side. I could feel the electricity before we ever entered the building, almost like we were part of the crowd where Rocky Balboa would take on Mr. T, the aisles barely passable for all the riffraff donning their favorite wrestling t-shirts with their cut off (likely acid washed?) blue jeans.

The crowds and the sticky gym floor was no deterrent for my eye of the tiger determination at getting what I had come for and nothing warmed my 10 year old heart more than taking my red autograph book right up to the likes of Crusher Blackwell, Andre the Giant, and Ric Flair. (If you love me at ALL you will open a new browser and google the previous 3 wrestlers and pause for a moment of silence and imagine my ten year old self studying those autographs with all the passion a ten year old could muster. God Bless pro wrestling. And God Bless America.)

It’s a crying shame that by the time Hulk Hogan took on the Iron Sheik, I had moved on to bigger and better things, like watching George Strait take the Southern world by storm on CMTV. Nobody has time for wrestling when there are country music videos streaming 24/7 that must be memorized and reenacted. Using a brandy sniffer for a microphone. Because obviously.

All that to say, life is weird.

For starters, I just celebrated my 7th year of writing on the internets.

How did this happen? The internet has become a teenager while I’ve become middle aged, which makes me old enough to be its mama. Meanwhile, I have in fact become the mama of adorable 20 somethings who are doing amazing things and charming teenage girls who are about to break my heart and start high school. Why does the universe think I can handle these things without an all out break down?!?

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Then there’s my own roller coaster life.

I was the poor appalachian girl who by all accounts should never have made it through high school who grew up to become a doctor who then gave up medical practice to homeschool her girls who gave up homeschooling and then somehow got a book deal and wrote a book TWICE that took her to some very hard emotional places (although the book still isn’t ready for the world), who found her passion for healing again and can’t stop thinking about (and talking about) how these little drops of love (and the business opportunity they’ve created) are totally changing everything about her life. Whew.

And did I mention that we also started renting out our little mountain cottage, which has added a whole new dimension (and workload) to my life? Did I mention the weirdness of it all?

Side note: We also rented out our actual house that we live in during the week we’ll be on vacation, which is also kinda strange and fascinating at the same time. We are considering trading it out in the future for other fun places we want to visit. Brilliant? Weird? Sign me up.

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Not to even mention other things that I can’t talk about but that are keeping my heart twisted up and full. That’s another story for another year that’s needs to be covered in bathed in much prayer.

I don’t know what to say except that life is quirky but also wonderful.

It may not be Andre the Giant whose name makes my heart beat faster these days but this life keeps me in awe none the less and I still want to somehow find a way to hold all the things and people that come in and out of my days with the same child like wonder that I held that little red book with Ronnie Garvin’s signature on the front page. Coke stains and all.

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We’re barely surviving some days and then some days managing to squeeze every ounce of life out of the hours, hoping that the one thing that remains the same is gratitude.

A blessed thankfulness that by God’s grace, we are here to live another day with our whole hearts and our whole attention, with hands and eyes wide open for whatever he chooses to give or take away, and with whomever’s hand He uses to bring His blessedness to us—whether it looks like a gift or not at the time and whether the gift comes as a man who stands 7 feet tall dressed in a unsightly tights or an adorable 20 something with a barrel o’monkeys mustache or even a letter from an editor that feels for all the world like it’s not a gift at all even when deep down I know it is.

I hope you’re watching for it, too—for the way He weaves a beautiful story on the weirdest days out of the strangest little bits of mismatched yarn using mostly our fears and frailty. He knows what He’s doing and He loves us so much in spite of ourselves. In spite of our sin. In spite of our grumbling. In spite of our failure to see the gifts most days. We are loved for the sake of Christ, who has given us His name and made us His own.

That may be the weirdest and most wonderful thing of all.

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p.s. my newest fascination besides Instagram is Periscope. It’s a free live streaming app that seems like it’s gonna be a whole lotta fun! My handle on both is “lifeingrace”

Why I Gave Up Homeschooling

July 29, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 186 Comments

Why I gave up homeschooling via lifeingrace

How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved.

Well, first, I blame Instagram. Everything was fine and dandy; we were reading The Iliad and using chalk pastels to paint the prettiest chickens in the free world, when all the IG updates started in from kids at the Classical Christian school in town. There were the adorable 12 year olds in uniforms, laughing it up over chips and sandwiches at the picnic table outside, or the artsy and eclectic 14 year olds snapping selfies and talking about the lasting bonds of friendship made over lattes and art and team sports. School looks cool on Instagram, there’s no doubt about it.

Then there was the look she gave me. I’ve spent every day, all day, with her for the past five years. I know her so well. She didn’t really have to say anything. I just knew it was time. She wanted—she needed to do this. And to me, that’s the ultimate benefit of homeschooling—the deep knowing that comes from the day in and day out struggle for her heart. I have battled many demons in these days at home but the war for her heart was the hardest fought. And the irony is this. I was always preparing her to leave. All the laughter, all the tears, all the cooking lessons and the reading aloud, all the art projects and all the talks about life, all the slow mornings on the sofa with good books and all the hours of studying Latin declensions—it was all training, so that someday, she’d feel strong and capable and ready to do this.

We’ve been through a lot together, her and I. We’ve read hundreds of books, made endless batches of chocolate chip cookies, survived a horrific house fire and 1,825 days of messy, beautiful life. We’ve taken the best field trips and talked for hours about beauty products and the Greek gods. We’ve memorized a thousand lines of poetry and danced around in the kitchen while the ripest tomatoes from our garden cooked on the stove. We’ve studied the Israelites until we feel like they’re our brothers and we’ve prayed the Lord’s prayer too many times to count. We’ve been harsh and unkind and impatient but forgiveness has never been in short supply. I’ve told her four hundred times to stop clogging and tapping so we could finish our book. I’ve prayed that I’d be wise enough to know when the time was right, strong enough to keep going until that day came, and tender enough to let her have her say.

That time has come. These days at home were always precious and always numbered.

If I could do anything different, I would smile more, laugh more, dance more, and read more poetry.

If I did anything right, it was the courage I had to stay and tell the truth, for as long as she needed me. I stayed until I knew that she knew she was loved. She’s sure now and the weight of it crushes my doubts.

Two weeks from today, I will kiss her goodbye, she will walk into the 7th grade and everything about the way we spend our days will change. I’m excited, relieved, and yet, incredibly sad. I look back on the past five years with a heart full of gratitude—for the gift of her days and for how we learned to love and forgive each other so freely. I will miss her terribly and grieving a loss like this will take time. When I think about it for too long, I’m sure my heart will break.

So, I don’t.

We’re enjoying every minute of these last two weeks at home; finishing the tween room, organizing school uniforms and folders and pencils, and holding on for dear life to these vapors we call days.

Why did I finally give up homeschooling and a way of life I’ve so come to love and cherish?

Because she told me it was time.

And I trust her. So I listened.

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when I say *her*, of course I mean *them*

They will both be going into 7th grade so at least they’ll still be together.

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Wonder if they’d mind if I join the 7th grade, too?

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What will I do now, with all this free time? I’m thinking I’ll start with a full on mid-life crisis. Then, I’m sure I figure it out. One thing’s for sure. I’ll still be meeting you here and I’m so thankful for that.

I’ll be around in the comments in case you have questions.

Love y’all. And pray for me. Change is hard.

Why I {still} homeschool

August 5, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 135 Comments

It is a delicate thing, this public writing. To write honestly about something you love without conveying a sense of superiority or smugness. I’m sure I fail at it miserably and I pray you’ll forgive my shortcomings in this area. I simply couldn’t have expected this turn in my life—-that I would be here—-at home—–teaching my kids everyday. Never mind that I’d love it so much. I can’t say enough how thankful I am to find myself in this position. If you’re considering homeschooling, I hope to encourage you to take the next step.

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After the fire, I wasn’t sure if I could breathe again much less teach my children their schoolwork.

I often thought of calling it quits. I didn’t know how to go on. I didn’t want them to see me fall apart everyday.

But somehow we made it through. We finished out the year.

We memorized Romans 8:18-39 as a way to help our hearts heal. I remember the day we finished it.

It felt like a milestone. I knew we were gonna be okay. We taught each other how to live through tragedy.

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I could cite so many reasons why I continue to homeschool my kids.

Yes, it’s true that I LOVE learning. I love the opportunities to relearn with the kids the things I never learned very well the first time. And the classical model for education is beautiful. It’s rich in great literature, rigorous and demanding in memory work and reading and writing. It’s centered in history and is time tested as a proven way to raise leaders and independent thinkers.

I could tell you that I love teaching the faith to my kids. I don’t have to worry about them being indoctrinated with secular humanism. I can enculturate them with confessional lutheran teaching and practice and hand on to them the faith of our fathers.

I could tell you that I love our family centered life where we are not segregated by age or surrounded by peers. I love that the bulk of their time is spent with adults who love them and have their best interests at heart. I am thrilled when I see that their siblings become their best friends and they get to spend long stretches of time in the magical world of childhood play.

But all that is really a cover for why I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I’ve seen in my older kids that life is a vapor. You blink and they’re gone.

I grieve the time I lost with them and I don’t want to miss anything else.

This mothering is what I was made to do.

I want to do it to the fullest for as many hours a day as I can.

I hate to admit it but I think I’m just selfish.

I want their mornings and their lunchtimes and their belly laughs and even all their groanings.

I want the bike riding and the lap sitting and the hours and hours of reading together.

I want the crafting and the cooking and all the holiday shenanigans.

After 3 years, all the lofty reasons I started homeschooling can be reduced to this—-I just want them here with me.

For as long it lasts, I want their days.

And hopefully, we’ll learn some great stuff too.

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Soon, a nuts and bolts post about what we’re doing this year. Soon, as in, as soon as I figure it out!

Happy Weekend!

xo,

edie

How We Spend our Days…….

September 25, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 30 Comments

I am no pro at this. I am not even what most would call a ‘seasoned’ homeschooler. But as year 2 is delightfully underway, I am more convinced than ever that this is where I belong. I receive lots of emails about homeschooling and I am probably ill-equipped to answer them.

I wish I were more disciplined and patient and organized.

But one thing is for sure, I love learning and I especially love learning with them.

Kids are smart and can see right through us. They know us sometimes more intimately than we know ourselves. We can do everything ‘right’ on the surface and they know if something is missing. I think sometimes they’re lack of lots of knowledge makes them more intuitive. I say all that to say that—they know if we are not living authentically—if we’re just going through life’s motions. My most important homeschooling advice is to live honestly and authentically with your kids. They can spot a fake a mile away. You aren’t hiding anything from them. You might as well live in humility and forgiveness. That is a language they understand. So, don’t fret so much about the small stuff—whether to do Shurley Grammar or Rod and Staff or whether to use this or that reading program. Live an honest, authentic life and they will learn to do the same. The rest will come easy.

So here’s what’s new and different and definitely working for us this year:

1. Literature We spend 30-40% of our day in whole books—either me reading to them, them reading to me or listening to books on tape. This is a big change from just doing a series of worksheets all day. Here’s what our reading list looks like so far:

~Pilgrim’s Progress We are reading this together—and so far I’m doing the reading. Soon enough, when I order more copies of it, they will read it aloud and to themselves. We are reading the unabridged version—-with all it’s old english language and we’re reading it slowly. Very slowly. Like 5-10 pages a week slowly. At this pace it’ll take a year and so to finish it. Charlotte Mason recommended this very slow reading of Pilgrim’s Progress as a way to ‘live with the book’—to intimately get to know this book, its’ main character Christian and its’ themes. After one month of reading it with my girls, I am completely enamored with their ability to understand a complicated allegory with very formal language. And I’m also awed at Bunyan’s ability to communicate theology in such an inspiring way. I would NEVER have believed that a 7 and 9 year old could understand, let alone, enjoy a book of this magnitude—-but they do. This is a highlight for us!

~Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb~~ This is a wonderful adaption of many Shakespeare plays written with beautiful, complex language. We read one story a week in 2-3 sittings. The girls LOVE these. As you know, his stories are often convoluted and can be difficult to follow. But because he’s a brilliant writer, they are compelling. The girls almost always want me to read more. And what a gift to give a child: to introduce them to the best in literature at such an early age. Every family, homeschoolers or not, should have this book!

~Jungle Books/Robin Hood ~~ These classics are also read in smaller sections over a longer period of time according to the CM literature list. We’re currently reading JB and will start Robin Hood (likely in January) next. Again, these are the original works and unabridged and meant to be read on a somewhat slower pace.

These books form the core of our literature and curriculum. I also use the CM reading list for the girls’ ‘reading’ books. So far this year, they have read The Saturdays, Understood Betsy, and are currently starting Caddie Woodlawn. This is what I use in lieu of ‘readers’—so they read these books on their own (usually a chapter a day) and then read a couple of pages aloud to me.

The website for incorporating the Charlotte Mason method is called Ambleside Online and although we are currently using only her literature method, we are heavily influenced by her philosophy.

We also add 2-3 books a week on top of that to supplement what we’re learning in history. For example, because we’re studying medieval history, we listened to an audio book on King Arthur this week and read aloud Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. As icing on this very rich ‘literature cake’, we listen to books on tape every night before bed—usually something ‘fun’–like The Wind in the Willows or On the Shores of Silver Lake.

2. Math—I thought I’d have to jab sharp objects into the ear drums if I was forced to do another year of Saxon. Anyone who could—day in and day out—-read all those scripted pages for every lesson—deserves sainthood. So, in an act of desperation and self-preservation, I switched to Singapore. And now I know why Asian countries always beat us in math. This stuff is advanced. No more hand-holding and repetition like with Saxon. You’re on your own baby. And sadly, I’ve come to miss the ‘handholding’ of Saxon a bit. I think our girls have inherited my general lack of enthusiasm for math—-hard as I try to feign it—and I find we need more repetition than Singapore. So, we’re doing Singa-saxon, which is greek for ‘my own chaotic mix of Singapore and Saxon. I’ll let you know how it works out but so far—-so good. I’ve only had them in tears twice, I think. And my eardrums have been spared from sharp objects.

3. History—We are using Story of the World 2–The Medieval World. Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE this program. If you could see the list of amazing stuff we’re gonna cover, you’d sign up to enroll at our school pronto. We just finished the lesson on Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora from Constantinople—–which I love to say over and over again. Say it with me, Constantinople. Thankyouverymuch. And this week, we studied Mohammed and the Rise of Islam. As a supplement to our studies, we talked about Islamic extremism and watched YouTube videos of the towers falling and President Bush’s bullhorn speech. Talk about wide eyes and questions and interested kids—-they couldn’t get enough.

“Where were you , Mommy, when the towers fell?”

“Did you cry?” “Where was Daddy?” “Was I born yet?”

And we learned the five pillars of Islam, which they recited back to me last night, followed by questions about how they can possibly go all day without eating (Ramadan).

With history, I tend to focus more on Western Civilization, so we sometimes skip the lessons on India and the far East and spend more time on things related to christian history. But this program has become a favorite of my girls. They will often say that history is their favorite subject. I’m pretty sure when I was 7 and 9 that I didn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘history’.

4. Memory We are still going strong with our memorization. I bought the Andrew Pudewa program for memorization and have decided NOT to use it as it was intended. I am borrowing many of his selections but we’re doing it in our own order and supplementing with other stuff too. There are so many great passages and poems that I want to memorize that I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into someone else’s choices. That said, I love many of the poems in his book and we are currently memorizing “Rebecca, Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably”—-which is oddly quite an entertaining little piece. We’re also still finishing up on the catechism for the ten commandments, doing regular scripture memory, and adding to our history catechism weekly—-which I basically make up from important events in history. (I also follow the Veritas History cards fairly closely). I use Luther’s small catechism and The Harp and Laurel book for sources.

5. Latin and Spanish I am completely excited about language this year because we’ve been able to hire a latin and spanish teacher for the girls. She was their teacher at the classical christian school they attended two years ago and has done a phenomenal job so far with them. They are already conjugating Latin verbs and using conversational Spanish at the breakfast table. She comes for one hour 3x a week and if you live in the Morristown area, she has more slots available. Just email me if you’re interested. I’ll be featuring her soon on my blog because she also makes jewelry and has an Etsy shop. I feel so blessed to have her and the girls are learning oodles.

6. Grammar—I settled on a combination of Shurley Grammar and Daily Grams. The girls love the SG chants and this week we added the preposition to our arsenal of words we can diagram in a sentence. We do a ‘Daily Gram’ everyday and then do about 3 lessons in SG a week. It’s working so far but I will likely switch (in a year or two) to Rod and Staff Grammar because apparently (according to Susan Wise Bauer) that is the only program that teaches the correctly and fully how to diagram sentences. For now, I like the chants and the question/answer flow of SG and the repetition of Daily Grams.

Our other subjects are basically the same and you can read about those here. We have also started piano this year, which has been so wonderful! And the girls are swooning over their new dance classes (Lakeway School of Ballet and Dance). Between the two of them, they’re taking ballet, tap, jazz, irish, lyrical, hip hop and progressions. Basically, I watch little girls read and dance all day. What could be better than that?

This Irish dancing is contagious—and how about the fact that she’s 7 and has had maybe 7 classes so far!!! They’re trying to teach me but it could be a lost cause.

By far the best part of homeschooling is the sheer amount of time I’m able to spend with them. We share an intimacy that I wasn’t sure was possible between mother and child. It’s only made me more ‘jealous’ over them. Now I better understand why God is a jealous God. He wants our hearts—fully, completely. He loves us unconditionally, has our best interests in mind, and can teach us more about the world and about ourselves than anyone can. And that’s what homeschooling has been like for me. It has the familiar ‘ring’ of a relationship that I know deep in my spirit. I was created for this—–to be in communion with Him and these little ones in a way that is often difficult to put to words. I couldn’t be more grateful…..

to be here…..

today…..

in our home……

learning to live this beautiful life He has given us…….

Together.

Thoughts on the Proper distinction between Law and Gospel

March 1, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 24 Comments

Do you have a visceral reaction when you see the Ten Commandments posted in public? Are you an advocate for having them posted in public places, with the thought that it somehow constitutes a sort of victory for christianity? Maybe I’m just a particularly sinful example of a christian, but my visceral reaction to seeing the commandments posted is guilt and shame. I look at the list and don’t get very far down until the ‘law’ accuses me. I have been a very poor keeper of God’s law and I don’t particularly like the visual reminder of my failure. What’s more, I often wonder how the average Joe walking into the courthouse feels about the public display of this law of God? Does it move him any closer to God’s love and redemption? And why have we chosen this particular ‘word’ of God to hold up for the world to see and ponder?

Only since I’ve become Lutheran have I been able to admit my ‘disdain’ for the public display of the commandments. Lutherans teach that the only way to properly interpret the holy scriptures is to properly distinguish between law and gospel. In brief, the law is God’s moral law that has been written onto our hearts and that is summarized by the commands that we are to love the Lord with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. The gospel is the good news of Christ’s all availing sacrifice for us by His death on the cross. The law demands perfection and brings death. The gospel proclaims forgiveness and gives life. The law accuses us of our complete failure to please God while the gospel announces that Christ has pleased God perfectly for us. The law tells me what I must do; the gospel tells me what Christ has done. The law, when properly preached and taught, pins me to the ground….leaves me no way of escape and forces me to see the reality of my complete depravity and wickedness before a holy God. The law has done it’s job when it has crucified me and left me for dead. The gospel of Christ then breathes new life into me with the sweet taste of forgiveness and absolution. Another has paid the price for my sin and He alone, because of His own death and resurrection, has become my atonement. But there can be no life until we have first been killed by the law. It’s a theme throughout scripture. Death brings life. The first shall be last. Scripture is nothing if not a paradox.

And lest I haven’t convinced you yet of the death that the law brings, read over the commandments. Have you broken them today? I, for one, have broken most of them. I have envied and lusted and coveted and according to Jesus’ definition, I’ve even committed murder. Most of us probably rarely make it through breakfast without butchering 8 out of 10 of the commandments, if we were honest with ourselves. So, why then, would God give us a list of rules to follow that He knew we couldn’t follow? Would He ask us to do something which He knew full well we could never do? Yes, in fact, He would. He would give us a list of laws to show us beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are incapable of keeping them. Any of them. Let alone keep them perfectly, as Jesus so eloquently insisted.

So when I see christians demanding that the 10 commandments be posted in public places, I wonder why. If we were going to post something about our faith, wouldn’t we want it to be the good news of Christ’s forgiveness? And do we want them posted because we wrongly believe that we are actually keeping them? The law of God alone, stripped of the gospel, does not produce faith. If we feel we are keeping the law, we become prideful like the pharisees. And those of us who know we’re not living up to God’s standards begin to despair. The law can never bring life even if it serves temporarily to control behavior. Only the gospel of Jesus can bring life. But we won’t know that we need Him so desperately without a harsh presentation of how miserably we’ve failed to measure up to God’s standards.

In a perfect sermon, these two go hand in hand; held in paradoxical tension. In most sermons I’ve heard over thirty years of being a Christian, the law was usually watered down to a more ‘keepable’ level and the gospel was presented as somewhat conditional upon my sincerity. Or even worse, after the gospel was presented, an altar call was given where I now need to come forward and pledge to do X,Y, and Z. The good news that was given to me was then partially taken away. God wants to gospel to have the last word. For ‘the gospel is the power of God unto salvation’.

So I say, memorize the commandments, teach them to your children, but take them down from the public square. And put up a cross or better yet, a crucifix. At least there’s hope in the cross.

Ironically enough, these very Lutherans who claim that God’s law properly interpreted cannot bring life, are also very serious about learning and memorizing God’s law. His laws are the perfect recipe for harmony and peace in this life….if we could only keep them. And despite the fact that we cannot, one can only get to that complete realization by trying. So the more I know and attempt to practice God’s law, the more it convicts me and shows me my sin. Also of note, is that Moses, who brought God’s law to the people of Isreal, was never allowed to enter the promised land, while Joshua, whose name means Jesus, led God’s people into Canaan. I say all that to say that we’re teaching our girls Luther’s small catechism. They’re still working on it, but I thought you’d enjoy hearing their recitation of the first five commandments and their meanings.

I also have very good news for you……Taylor’s CD’s are in. If you left a comment on this post, email with your address and I’ll send you a CD. If you did not leave a comment on that post, well shame on you. But I’ll gladly you send you one for $7 including shipping. Just send me an email with your address.

Have a blessed Lord’s day on this first Sunday of Lent.

Love and hugs and showers of blessings! Also go to my tumblr site and check out some fun craft room ideas. I see painting in my future.